Monday, January 9, 2017

Fasting and Food - Part I, What should I be eating?

"Hi, thanks for adding me to the group. I started 16:8 fasting. Does this look like a good eating plan? This is what I'm eating:

1200 pm - protein shake

12:30 pm - gigantic salad with chicken or fish

3:00 pm - light snack of Greek yogurt

6:00 pm - dinner, another gigantic salad with chicken or fish

I see some form of this post in the Facebook group (Fierce Fit Fearless 2.0) just about once a week. There is no cut-and-dry answer to this. Without knowing some key pieces of information, there is no way to answer this question.

Answer these questions and then, and only then, can we can get started with your meal plan.

The first problem with the above meal plan description is that it lists no real information. How much chicken or fish are you eating? What else will be in your salad? What kind of salad dressing are you using and how much of it?

This day includes a grand total of: 1,362 calories, 135g Protein, 47g Carbs, 68g Fat. Obviously the carbs are slightly higher, but I usually don't count high-fiber green type of veggies in my counts.

What's even more astonishing is that this meal plan is actually way too low on calories for the majority of women out there. If you're under 5'4" tall and need to lose more than 15 pounds, this is probably a great low-carb meal plan for you - esp. if you're over 35. If you're taller, younger, and/or need to lose more than 15 or so extra pounds of bodyweight to reach a healthy BMI (not including Figure-type goals in here), you will need to significantly increase your calories.

To bump up calories, I recommend going with a 10-hour feeding window and a 14-hour fast, which allows for one more meal. Include some potatoes/yams and more protein and you're looking at a great day of eating!

4 comments:

Also Jenn
said...

I'm going to be brave and post this for everyone to see (instead of private message) in hopes that it helps out someone like me.

How old are you?- 27How tall are you?- 5'6How much do you currently weigh?- 235What do you think is a realistic goal weight for you?- 170-135What are your goals - Fat loss? Muscle gain? body re-composition? Other?- weight loss, fat loss to start What is your BMR?- 1858 CALORIES/DAY according to http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htmTDEE?-2224 calories/day and 1779 calories/day for goal weight of 170 at a sedetary lifestyle and the recommend weight loss according to https://mytdee.com/Tell me about your fitness program - do you lift?- currently have no fitness program. Work full time (desk job), 2 small children and no energy at the end of the day to even walk (that was my laziness speaking; I know there is always time to walk if I make time for it)What do you do, how much of it do you do and how often do you do it?- n/a

First, congratulations on having the courage to post your statistics. Taking an honest look at yourself and your life isn't always easy. I can imagine how tired you are by the end of the day. Taking care of two children would be enough for many people, but you also work full-time. I get it.

I know it's not easy to find energy at the end of the day to exercise, so let me save you some trouble. You can't exercise away a bad diet. The first thing you should do is begin weighing and measuring your food and prepping meals for when you're not home. I find it's easy if you make extra dinner each night and portion out one or two containers to take to work. This accomplishes two things: 1, you have healthier dinners because you're thinking about what you should be eating and 2, you now also have one or two healthy lunches that are portioned properly.

80% of your fat-loss goals can be accomplished through a clean diet with the proper calories/macronutrients. If you're not exercising yet, I'd recommend a 40% protein, 30% carb, 30% fat diet to start.

Doing the math for you, at 1700 calories per day, that comes out to:

170g protein128g Carbs57g fat

Eating that much protein is not easy, so you have to look for lowfat sources that won't blow your other macros. Whey protein shakes are great once or twice a day as they add at least 25g protein each; lowfat small-curd cottage cheese isn't bad once you get used to it; lean cuts of beef and pork as well as any white fish. Salmon is good also, but you have to account for the fat. You also have to eat it in 4-5 servings or else you'll feel like a stuffed pig.

Once you start seeing the pounds melt off through a dialed-in nutritious eating plan, you'll see that you'll have more energy and may naturally start moving more. Take the kids to the park or play in your yard - you'll all benefit from the added activity.

Hello JennI am looking into intermittent fasting and would like to get an idea of how I should incorporate it into my lifestyle. Background InformationAge:31Height:5'0Weight:180 (muscular build) Ideal weight:150-140My goals are: weight loss, lean muscle mass, overall improved functional fitness. Current workout lifestyle:I workout 5 days a week mon-fri for 1hour which includes minimum 20 minutes of cardio daily and HITT, and 1 day incorporating weights as I bulk quickly. My main issue is snacking and snacking on the wrong things. Additional Information:i have a hypothyroid disorder.

First off, I'm so sorry that I never saw this question on the blog. As you may have noticed, I fell off the world for quite a while. It's been another tough year personally, and I just didn't have the mental energy for it.

so, you're 5'0", 180 and want to get to 140-150 lbs? Are you quite muscular? If so, congrats! It's hard to hold that much muscle on such a small frame. I hate to assume this, but you are female, correct? The reason I ask is that IF can be different for men and women.

Assuming you're a shortie female (like I am), I would say you should shoot for 1900 calories per day, with 150g of protein every day. Your carbs and fat matter less as long as everything fits in your calories. I would lower your cardio and increase strength, BUT, I would workout in the low weight, 12-15 rep range OR the very heavy (80-90%+) 4-6 rep range as neither of these will cause a lot of hypertrophy, but will tell you body to hang on to your hard-earned muscles!

And make sure you thyroid levels - all of them, not just T3 or TSH are in the healthy range.

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Tomboy. Surfer. Gym Rat. I'm on a quest to get lean and mean. Join me as I explore the world of fitness through Intermittent Fasting and low volume, heavy weight training. I'm going to be a lean, mean, training machine...